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Erlanger Health System Leadership

Bruce A. KomiskeVice President, New Hospital Design and Construction

Bruce Komiske is a hospital administrator (Duke, MHA), who spent the first half of his career in senior management roles, in major academic medical centers such as Walter Reed, Yale New Haven Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital. It was in Rhode Island, when he was asked to assume responsibility for the creation of the Hasbro Children’s Hospital, where he realized that his real passion in life was to continue to create new children’s hospitals, each more innovative than the last.

It was also at Hasbro, where he learned the value of engaging the parents and patients, as well as the entire community in the planning process. Hasbro featured local artists, a real live zoo in the lobby, and a 36” sailboat on the roof of the hospital. It was also the first hospital where Komiske sought out a donation of a real fire truck for the kids to play on, which has become a tradition in all of the hospitals he has created since.

After opening Hasbro and assuming the CEO role for three years, he spent the next seven years in Westchester, working with Kevin Spiegel and the Fareri Family to plan, build and open the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, now celebrating its 10 year anniversary.

From there he did the early planning for the Benioff Children’s Hospital at University of California San Francisco, as well as the Children’s & Women’s Hospital – Sidra Medical Center in Doha, Qatar, a $5 billion project.

In 2008 he was recruited to lead the team to plan and build the Lurie Children’s Hospital in downtown Chicago, the tallest children's hospital in the world (23 stories). This hospital has received many design awards and was opened 6 weeks ahead of schedule, $75 M under budged and with over $650 million raised from the community.

Komiske has also published seven books, including Amazon 5-star rated World Best Designed Children’s Hospitals and is a featured speaker and consultant on healthcare design, healing environments, project management, and utilizing philanthropy to achieve these efforts, in over 25 countries around the globe.